Medusa's Proposal

"Old injuries. They ache when rain is coming. Nothing hurts right now." He watched the dark snake slither up the gorgon's arm and reattach itself to her head. "Are you feeling better?"

"I am. I haven't slept like that in - well, not since I was mortal. What have you been doing? You moved some things down there."

"I tidied up. I hope you don't mind that I stored my old master's things. I found the side tunnel where you put the belonging of your other - ah - hmm. 'Victims' seems an ill-fitting word for men who came to kill you."

"It fits, I suppose. I am a monster. I did abandon my baby - Poseidon's bastard son - in Athena's temple. What kind of mother does that?"

"I don't think that makes you a mons - "

" - Oh, it did, in the eyes of the priestesses. My own as well, I suppose. What Poseidon did wasn't my baby's fault. And then the gods did make me a monster."

"That does not make you a bad pers - "

" - Even if it didn't, what have I done since then? You saw what I did to your master, and he was but the latest of many. The gods send their heroes to kill me, I toy with them, I have my way with them, I turn them to stone, and I hang them in my front hall. Not one ever had a chance to kill me.

"You spoke of guilt over how the Spartans tortured and murdered your lover, yet you are a healer, not a torturer or a killer. Poseidon forced himself on me - he and the other gods cursed me. I've been forcing myself on these heroes and turning them to stone ever since. No man has ever escaped this island alive."

Asklepios nodded. "And I suppose no man ever will. I - "

- Medusa's hand pressed his arm. "Asklepios -"

" - Please, let me finish. I've been thinking about this all day. A ship will come in about a fortnight looking to bring me and my master home. If I return without my master, I'll have to watch my master's father torture and kill my adopted father. Aresthanas is a good man. I couldn't do that to him."

"You could stay - "

" - There's no food on your island, Medusa - none but what I brought. Even if there are fish or crabs in the waters nearby - "

" - There aren't. My pets have found nothing for miles. Poseidon was thorough in his curse."

"In any case, I have no nets, no boat, and no tools to craft them. The food will run out in a month. Staying means starving. Leaving kills a good man. Asking you to turn me into a statue is asking you to murder me. I'm not seeing any good choice."

The pair sat in silence. A breeze picked up.

Medusa shuddered. "I'm cold." She slid her curvaceous form up against Asklepios, resting her head on his shoulder, her snake-hair hanging down, not even looking at the stars. Asklepios wrapped an arm around her and pulled up her blanket to cover them both.

After a time, she stirred and raised her head. "What if I helped you? We could capture the ship that will come to return you. I could turn every Spartan on it to stone."

Asklepios stared at her closed eyelids. "You - you would help me escape?"

Medusa nodded. "I would."

"That ship will have a dozen Spartans and three times as many Helots on the oars. You might have to fight them all. Even for you, it would be a great risk."

She stroked the scars on his chest. "If you asked me, I would try."

"You would have to leave your island. Do you want to do that? Can you do that? Would the gods even allow it?"

She turned his face to hers. "For you, I would try it." Medusa's mouth pressed against his in a long, lingering kiss before she pulled away. "I would defy the gods themselves for you."

"Medusa - "

" - Hear me, Asklepios. These hurts you carry with you - Autonoë's suffering, her death and your baby's - all of it. It's not your fault."

"I - she suffered because - "

" - She suffered because she wanted you to live. She chose life for you."

Asklepios choked back a sob. "But I would never - never have asked - "

" - Of course not. Her choice was never yours to ask. It was hers to give."

Tears rolled down the helot's face. "I didn't deserve - "

" - None of us deserve what we get. The gods see to that. We can only decide what to do with what we have."

Asklepios ran his fingers through his ragged hair. "But what choice did I have? Do I have?"

Medusa's arms wrapped around him, and her thigh slid over his. The full length of gorgon's womanly form pressed against his side as she whispered in his ear. "You can take a chance with me and win your freedom. Or you can die here, giving up on your life, giving up on Autonoë's dying gift. Is that what she would want for you?"

"NO!" Asklepios pushed the gorgon away and stood up. "I never wanted that! Any joy, any fruit of my life springs from her suffering - her death! I could never accept it - can never accept -!" He rose and stumbled away, shuddering as he wept.

Medusa sat alone in the moonlight.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Asklepios stood outside the entrance to Medusa's cave, watching the steaming vapors billow from the fissure. How many centuries had the gorgon been there, brooding and alone, with only an occasional would-be murderer for company? All that suffering, and for what?

Just inside the gurgling cave entrance lay the twelve - no, thirteen champions of the gods, their straining forms frozen in stone. The gods had sent them there, and they had died. Perhaps they were all awful men, like his master. Perhaps some weren't. All of them left behind families who would mourn them. All that death, and for what?

His own life flashed before him: the beatings, the secret love, the awful news of Autonoë's torture and death, the guilt almost too terrible to live with, and that suffering he had so long embraced.

Is that what she would want for you? Medusa's words came back to him. This gods-cursed woman had offered herself willingly, freely. She could help him taste freedom for the first time in his life, a freedom he hadn't hoped for since he'd lost Autonoë. He could have that freedom, not with Autonoë, but with Medusa. Is that what she would want for you?

"Yes," he said aloud to the stars. He didn't need to go to Hades to speak with his departed love. He knew what Autonoë had wanted for him. Now Asklepios knew what he wanted, and he knew who he wanted. Since meeting Medusa, for the first time in his life, he'd had his first glimpse of freedom. Could both freedom and Medusa be his?

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Asklepios approached the base of the hillside cliff where he had left Medusa. The silent gorgon gazed away and up at the moon. Even from behind, her statuesque form was breathtaking in the pale moonlight. He walked quietly up and touched her shoulder.

"Medusa - "

She jumped, startled, and her snakes reared and hissed as she started to turn. Her hands balled into fists as she turned with her eyes firmly shut. "Asklepios, you fool! My eyes were open! Don't startle me like that! Do you realize what I could have done to you?!"

"You didn't send a pet after me. You weren't even watching for me."

"I thought you needed time alone!"

"I did."

"Then why sneak up on me? Why not call out?"

Asklepios sat down facing her. "You looked so peaceful; I imagine you don't see the moon often. I didn't want to disturb you."

"Well don't do that again if you like living!"

The helot brushed aside a snake and stroked her cheek. "I won't. I'd like to live - with you."

"Then you'd better - what did you say?"

He bent forward, pressing his lips to hers for a moment. "I want you, Medusa. I want you to come with me. We can escape this island together - We can live together."

The gorgon bit a full lip. "Together? But a proper woman could give you a family. I - I'm a mons- "

He kissed her again, and her body rose to meet his as he pulled away again. "I choose you, Medusa."

Her brow furrowed. "But could you ever love again after mmph - "

-Another of the Helot's kisses cut her off. Their arms entwined, and their mouths opened to taste each other, but Asklepios pulled back one final time. "I could, if you'll have me."

Medusa smiled. "I will."

Through their clothes, a new warmth sprang up between them. Their mouths met in a probing kiss as the gorgon pushed the Helot down and lay atop him, her prominent bosoms bulging against his chest, her supple thighs parting, her hips squirming against his, the softness of her dampening slit grinding against the bump of his rising manhood. The moon, the stars, and the hill seemed to fade away for Asklepios - there was only his thirst her eager mouth, the ripeness of her intoxicating scent, the heat of her breath, and the enticing touch of her sumptuous body pressed to his. One of her arms held her up and joined the snakes of her hair embracing them together. Her other hand's questing fingers roamed down, untying the knots of his tunic. His own hands slid along her sensuous curves: the bulging sides of her bosoms, the ridged muscles along the groove of her arching back, and the pleasing roundness of her seat. He found and loosened the bindings of her wrap, but pressed together thus, neither could disrobe.

Medusa seemed to sense it, too, for she pushed off the ground, pulling Asklepios up into a sitting position. A few jerking pulls later, the gorgon threw their clothes far behind her before settling herself down in the Helot's lap, her smooth legs wrapped around his waist, her swampy womanhood gliding against his bare, unyielding phallus.

Her hands guided his to her magnificent bosoms. "Touch me!" she whispered. Asklepios obeyed, his yearning hands cupping their perfect forms. Her mouth panted against his as their tongues danced. The bulging bounties of her chest nearly spilled over as he caressed their gentle slopes and hardening peaks. "Yesss!" she hissed, her snakes wrapping around him, chaining him to her.

It occurred to the Helot that he might not be able to break the lock of her embrace. That suited him fine, for the key to his release was ready for its lock. Medusa's other hand slid down his body to where her soaking loins pressed and undulated against his rigid manhood. As her knowing fingers found his member, Asklepios dropped his hands from the supple roundness of her bosoms to the womanly flare of her rounded hips. He lifted - an invitation she happily accepted. Medusa's proud breasts brushed and rested on his shoulders as she rose up. Her fingers coaxed his primed manhood toward her smoldering womanhood.

The gorgon groaned as she lowered herself, bit by bit, sliding down her lover's trim body, enveloping Asklepios' phallus in her snug, sweltering slickness. So soaked was she that she buried the Helot's member completely in one slow descent. As the rim of her sheath met his hilt, she gasped against his mouth, "Love me!"

The walls of Medusa's depths flexed and pulsed in ripples around his manhood as her sinuous figure surged and swayed against him, eliciting pleasures he'd scarcely imagined. Indeed, this was love he was giving her: the love of Eros: intoxicating sensual passion. Yet that wasn't all he felt. The delights of mating with Medusa would be enough to ensnare any man, but already, he felt the love of Philia take root: the love of affection. How far might they go together if they escaped the island? Might this become the love of Pragma, the enduring love he had lost once? He'd thought he would never have that again, but now, drinking from the gorgon's mouth, kneading her bosom, he slowed, savoring the moment, reflecting. This wasn't some mindless sating of lust; Medusa had seen the hurt within him - had helped him past his guilt. The taste of her mouth was a promise of freedom and a future together, of a new life beyond all he had hoped for. Indeed, he could scarcely imagine living on without her - without this soaring, glorious desire for her to be his, and him to be hers.

Yes, he would make a life with this woman, no matter what the gods might do. But there would be plenty of time to speak of that later, for working out the details, for planning their lives together. Now he would make her his. Now he would claim this magnificent woman for his own - he would give her what he'd only ever given one other. Now he surged and swayed his hips with hers. He pressed his mouth to hers as she rose and fell on him.

She sensed the change, gasping "Yes! - oh yes! Love me!" Their mouths moaned against each other. Her bosoms rippled and bounced as they slid up and down his chest. His hands roamed up; one ran through her snake-hair, which curled around his fingers and wrist as he pulled her in for another gasping kiss. He seized a breast with the other and kneaded, rolling the hardened nipple between his fingers.

The rolling of their hips quickened. Medusa wrenched her head away, breathless. "Yes, Asklepios - Yes! - you know what I want - what you want! - Give it to me! - Oh! - Give me your seed!"

A low churning started deep within the Helot's loins. His pace quickened.

Medusa sensed this, too. "You want it - rrrah! - I know it - I love it!"

The churning grew to a thrilling hum of carnal pleasure. His pace was frantic now. Her sheath was a furnace he fueled with every roll of his hips. She matched his every move with equal passion, crying, "Yes! - I'm yours for the - nnnngh! - the taking!"

The hum of pleasure reached a piercing note flooding out from his loins, spreading throughout his body.

- Mmmmh! Take me! - Ooh! - Give it to me! - Oh yes! - IT'S MINE! - YESSSS!"

Bursting the dam of his long self denial, the seed of Asklepios surged into the molten core of his lover as his own wordless shout of triumph joined hers. Medusa's womanly depths welcomed his gift in greedy, ushering ripples. The gorgon raised her head in a triumphal howl, pressing his face to her heaving chest and screaming his name to the stars in pure, erotic ecstasy: "ASKLEPIOS!"

Panting, the pair's coupling slowed, their arms relaxing to a soft embrace. Medusa's headsnakes sagged and hung down, limp. As their breath stilled, they shared a long kiss of mutual gratitude, enjoying the lingering bliss of their union.

As their lips parted, Asklepios sighed. "I haven't done that in years. I didn't know I still could."

Medusa smiled. "Only Poseidon ever seeded me before, and he took me by force."

Asklepios stroked her cheek. "Could I - could we - could my seed take root?"

Medusa shook her head, and rested it against his. "No, my lover. The gods saw to that when they cursed me. When I gave up his son, Poseidon himself told me that I would bear no man's child again. Then again..."

"Then again, what?"

"When I rejected him and gave up our son, Poseidon also said no man would ever take me again, either."

"I think we just proved him wrong."

Medusa gave a throaty chuckle. "Yes, we proved him wrong, but that doesn't mean he was wrong about everything."

Asklepios pulled her close in in a hard, fierce kiss. "Let's find out."

The gorgon gasped, "Now? Again? You just finished in me."

Still inside her, the Helot leaned forward and laid Medusa on her back. "I finished, but I'm not done. Unless you are?"

She gave a squeal of delight as his thrusts renewed. "Give me more, Asklepios! Take me again!"

Her legs wrapped around him, her heels urging him into her as their coupling continued.

~~~~~~~~~~

Zeus shook his head. "No, brother. The pact was made, the curse was spoken, and the Fates were woven. Medusa will fall to a mortal. You may not torment or harm her further. It's best to move on. You mated with her once, and you must let her go. I've done that many times, and now you shall too."

Poseidon glowered. "But - "

Zeus's eyes crackled and sparked as a distant rumble sounded. " - I have spoken. Now go, brother." Zeus dismissed the sea god with a wave. "Another matter needs my attention."

The hulking forms of Anicetus and Alexiares advanced to enforce the dismissal. With a contemptuous snort, Poseidon whirled and left the throne room. The gates clanged shut behind him.

The sea god squinted at the celestial glare of Olympus as he left the palace and stalked through the city of the gods. Other matters need his attention - I know exactly what holds your attention now, brother. Only Zeus, as lord of the sky, could drive away his storm clouds. Zeus is watching them too.

Poseidon much preferred the dynamic vibrance of a coral reef to the garish splendor of Olympus, but matters had gone too far. First Apollo had broken through the storm clouds smothering Medusa's isle. Now Zeus himself, the sea god's own brother, had driven all clouds away. All the gods on Olympus could watch what was happening there - and it seemed most of them were. Medusa, his Medusa, the woman he'd had Athena curse into monstrous immortality, had a lover. Now nearly all Olympus was witnessing it with amusement - and according to his informants, even admiration.

He paused at a fresh wall mural showing his recent coupling with Aphrodite. The goddess in the mural only had eyes on the looking glass, watching the Helot and gorgon mate without a glance at the Poseidon's figure in the mural. That's not how it happened! A blast from his trident blew the vivid mural asunder, along with some chunks of marble from the wall it had adorned. That damnable tramp!

The goddess of love was telling - no, showing everyone how that slave was a better lover than the sea god himself. And there was another mural of it! And another! Poseidon blasted another half dozen paintings and looking-glasses recreating the moment of their mating. Who was doing this?

Then Poseidon came upon a bronze automaton painting another mocking mural of Poseidon and Aphrodite's coupling. Such machines could only do the will of Haphaestus. The smith god and perpetual cuckhold of Olympus must be furious with Poseidon and his wife for mating - again. Tartarus' damnation! Their brief liason had been foolish, but Aphrodite mated with many gods. Poseidon didn't have time to scour every wall on Olympus. It was probably best to go home quietly and let all this blow over.

The sea god shrouded himself, taking the form of a tall demigod as he walked behind a crowded of minor gods and demigods clustered around a looking-glass. Standing head and shoulders above them, Poseidon had a clear view. By Olympus, that ridiculous pair was at it again! The slave lay atop Medusa in the moonlight, leading a dance of mating with his scarred, wiry frame that the gorgon met and flowed with. Her supple curves swayed, yielding and pushing with each plunging beat of their coupling. Her arms, her legs, her snakes - every movement was grasping, guiding, greedy for more of this - this wretched mortal slave! The sea god's mouth went dry as he watched those shapely legs - legs forever closed to him - curled around the Helot's hips and bottom; over and over, they pulled and welcomed the slave's member into the sweltering heat of her womanhood - that sensual sheath Poseidon would never know again. Medusa's voice, thick with arousal, cheered the mortal on and begged him for more of his seed. More of his seed? A bawdy demigodess nearby whistled and exclaimed "That's twice he's seeded her without stopping, and she's peaked at least thrice! Not bad for a mortal." A godling scoffed, "Tell that to Aphrodite! Have you heard her complaining about Poseidon's bungled plowing?" Some other voice cried out, "Who hasn't?" The crowd laughed with raucous glee.

Poseidon could suffer the smith god's wrath. He could suffer his brother's interference above Medusa's isle. He could even suffer the scorn of that strumpet, Aphrodite. But this - this humiliation - this could not be borne. Rumors of a puny mortal slave being a better lover than the sea god? This was intolerable.

That mortal was seeding Medusa and putting the sea god's own virility to shame all over Olympus! Everything was wrong. Medusa was Poseidon's, or at least, no-one else's! Those snakes were supposed to be her curse, not a living pillow for her head against the rocky ground! Not willing assistants to clutch and spur a lover on to greater efforts! In the looking-glass, the slave hit his peak, crying his triumph as his manhood erupted into Medusa. The pair rolled in a languid embrace, clearly exhausted. Even so, they kept kissing and stroking each other as his spent member withdrew, trailed by a flow of their mixed essences.